Episode Summary

Clark becomes involved with a Native American woman, Kyla, and becomes aware of an ancient Indian prophecy that warns of a man of great powers who fell from the sky. Worse, a wolf-like creature is attacking the local Luthorcorp construction project, and Martha and Lionel may be the next victims.moreless

this was a good ep

in this ep of smallville clark and pete are riding when clark crashes and fall through the dirt and goes underground finds caves that have really sacred patings on the wall that tell the story of namon a man that comes from the sky and has the power to shoot fire from his eyes and other things. and clark learns the luthor corp wants to get rid of them and there is a protesters out there kyle and her father and clark invites them to dinner and they talk and then at night a wolf comes and kills one of the workers and causes a explosion . but clark and cloey do some investgating and they find out that her familys tribe can become wolves clark starts to fall for her by spending time with her. and everyone suspects its joshph and he gets thrown in jail and clark soon realizes it was not joshph it was klye who was the wolf and she dies in his arms and lex gets his dad to keep the caves this was a good ep i thought.moreless

Clark discovers by accident caves where his istory is painted by old natives. he also meets a girl where he tells his secret at. Luthorcorp is trying to destroy these caves.moreless

I wasn't that exited by this episode. It was all to predictable. Clark meeting this gourgious girl who he tells his secret at. The girl who also had her own secret, and doesn't shares this with clark. Meanwhile, Chloe and Lana stick out there necks to save the caves, whithout ever seeying them or know what is so special about them. The wolf that 'attacks' martha, wasn't that thrilling, she was save in her car and hadn't any possibility of getting hurt.Pete had this small role in this episode, didn't contributed anything. The jokes weren't funny, the dubbing of the sound was terrible.moreless

A Luthorcorp office building project meets controversy when a cavern is discovered below the site, and Clark learns he may be the subject of a long-ago legend. Lex and Lionel battle each other over the discovery, while Lana get some grave news.moreless

A native American opposes a Luthorcorp office building project, claiming some rights to the land, and during the night, a construction worker is attacked by a vicious wolf, which watches calmly as the man's signal flare for help sets off a gigantic fuel explosion. Later, Clark and Pete, or rather their stunt drivers (the stars don't get to do anything!), arrive on the site via trail bikes. Even Clark can lose control, vaulting over the handlebars and into a cavern opening, falling over 100 feet to the bottom where he meets a native American girl, Kyla, who's researching the cavern. Cave paintings are nearby; they tell a legend of a visitor from afar who will have the strength of 10 men, and Clark finds an octagonal-shaped inset on the cave wall, the same size as the spaceship key.Jonathan is a wet blanket about Clark's discovery as usual, while Clark is intrigued enough to invite the girl and her grandfather, Willowbrook, to dinner. Clark plays the advocate, while Martha stresses the importance of the jobs that will accrue to the community by the office building construction. So the producers are making another political statement, with part of the cast playing one advocacy position and the rest another. Clark and Kyla, a student at Granville, meet Lana to discuss protecting the cave paintings through possible aid from activist Henry Small.Willowbrook has a history of criminal civil disobedience, and is a suspect in the site accident, Lionel tells Martha. Lionel then offers Lex a partnership in the office complex. Back in the cave, Kyla and Clark explore the paintings again, while things are shaken up by the equipment above, and Clark makes another save of a gorgeous damsel. She believes Clark is the one foretold by the paintings, and we have a new love interest, in whom Clark is more than willing to invest himself on the slightest of physical attractions.Lana has enlisted the help of Mr. Small in protecting the cave paintings, but the bigger news is that he's confirmed through DNA to be Lana's father, a role he is now willing to assume.Back at the site, Martha tries to intercede with Willowbrook, who is preaching about injustices. The Sheriff places him under arrest for the death, while Small arrives with a cease-and-desist order on the construction. Clark tries to get help from Lex on bail for Willowbrook, so he's still playing one side of the political spectrum, but Lex is skeptical about any chance for success against Lionel's project.Lana is still in contact with Whitney, off in the Marines, while she and Chloe are mystified by Clark's sudden interest in Kyla. Well gee, she's really attractive. Lex and Clark look over the caves; Lex spots the octagonal key-space also, realizing it matches the key Dr. Hamilton found in a corn field back in "Obscura" last season.As the political polarization continues, Martha and Clark are trying to make peace, but it's a battle, with suspicions and mistrust on all sides. Then Chloe finds that the dead worker had canine tooth marks; Clark thinks this fact absolves Willowbrook. Martha is also stalked by the white wolf, but she makes it safely to her car, and the animal disappears. Clark already feels he and Kyla are destined to be together, simply because she saw him exercise his powers, yet he still has doubts about her.Lex posts bail for Willowbrook, angering Lionel, who now has a p.r. nightmare, but Lex offers to buy out Lionel's interest in the project. Lionel correctly guesses that Lex has ulterior motives, but isn't that always the case?Clark and Kyla talk, he's curious about skinwalkers; people who can turn into animals. She tells him of legends that the skinwalkers first appeared when the man from space appeared. She quickly descends into a self-righteous snit as Clark suggests that Willowbrook may be a skinwalker.Back at the mansion, Lionel is the next target of a wolf attack, but Clark arrives in time (how?), while the wolf escapes, injured by the window glass...and it morphs into Kyla, still with perfect makeup. So she dies in his arms, all of which is just too pat, contrived and manipulative.Lionel and Martha arrive at the site, where Clark seems fully recovered from the tragedy of the previous evening. Lex has convinced the state to take over the caves, and Lexcorp gets the exclusive rights to explore it, forcing Lionel completely out of the picture. As Lex explores the depths again, he scans the symbol for the final battle between good and evil, and we're supposed to see this portending the Clark-Lex conflict some day in the future.Lana offers Clark sympathy about Kyla, and finally tells Clark that Whitney is missing in action, so everyone is suffering loss in this episode. The whole series loses, too, when it takes up political causes, and becomes the advocate for one position or another. Someone is always the loser in this partisanship. This story is full of stereotypes and unbelievable relationships built on trivial encounters; let's hope the producers stick to good storytelling in the future and avoid preaching about anyone's political opinions. It looks like the cave paintings will be a continuing story line, so it might be worth the pain of watching this story again to remember how this started. Re-run rating C-.moreless

Clark Kent, Cave Raider

Skinwalker-Clark becomes involved with a Native American woman, Kyla, and becomes aware of ancient Indian prophecy that warns of a man of great powers who fell from the sky. Worse, a wolf-like creature is attacking the local Luthorcorp construction project, and Martha and Lionel may be the next victims.

A pivotal moment for the series as the writers introduce the underground caves that play a significant role in the series for the next couple of seasons. The caves are mysterious and the legend of Naman is developed well by the writers. I love how the Native American prophecy intertwines with Clark's destiny and begins to answer the questions about Clark's origins. Guest stars Gordon Tootoosis (Joseph Willowbrook) and Tamara Feldman (Kyla Willowbrook) so fine in their roles bringing a sense of intrigue in their characters push Clark toward his future. The only downside is how forced Clark and Kyla's relationship develops. Suddenly Clark is in loved with her just because of the prophecy and completely forgets about Lana for one whole episode.The episode is full of great action sequences like the opening teaser with wolf attack and the explosion right after. Also, the caves bring a nice new setting for the series although the visits to the caves become more repetitive after 2 years. But the best aspect is the mystery of the skinwallker as you believe it's Joseph at first and it's a good twist as it was Kyla along. All and All, "Skinwalker" is a great episode that sees the wrtiers for the first time building a mythology of their own to support the Superman mythology so well.moreless

Great Episode

Clark stumbles into a local Native American cave, located below a new LuthorCorp construction site, and discovers symbols in an alien language on the cave walls. A local Native American, Joseph Willowbrook, and his grand-daughter Kyla, recount a story that reflects Clark's life. In an effort to save the land, Kyla tries to scare the Luthors away, using her ability of skinwalking, but she is mortally injured during her attack on Lionel. "Skinwalker" is the first episode where Clark Kent has a girlfriend and is completely in love. The actress Tamara Fieldman is very beautiful and slightly reassembles Kristin Kreuk. The relationship between Lana and Mr. Small is finally disclosed.moreless

When Clark and Kayla are in a discussion--about 30 minutes into the episode- about her granddad being a nightwalker. There is a pause in their discussion and you can see Clark's mouth moving, but there is nothing to be heard.

When Clark first falls into the cave, Kyla tells him not to move, and that he fell over a hundred feet. She then starts examining him for injuries and the sound effect for her opening his shirt is a ripping sound, but his shirt in that shot, and the one to follow, is just unbuttoned, and in perfect order.

When Pete and Clark jump over the mound on their dirt bikes at the beginning of the episode (about four minutes in), you can see a crewman wearing a green jacket standing to the side below the mound in one shot.

When Lionel pours himself a drink before the wolf attacks him, it looks like he doesn't use his finger to determine how much he's pouring - this is the same thing that Lucas catches him out on in "Prodigal," but Lionel's pretty clearly still blind in this episode.

Lana has "Save the Cave" posters up at the Talon, and Chloe probably took pictures, possibly advertised it, etc. The posters have symbols from the cave on them - shouldn't Dr. Swann (Rosetta) have spotted this at some point? He knows the meteor storm occurred in Smallville so is presumably watching the town closely. Or did Lana just not make very precise copies?

The report Chloe mentions says the foreman was badly mauled ("teeth marks in the foreman's bone"). From what we see on screen, the foreman gets scratched on the face and the wolf's mouth almost touches him a couple of times but there's no indication that he's badly hurt and his clothes are pretty much intact. That's the extent of the damage we see and then he blows himself up.

When Clark bursts into the Luthor mansion, he sees Lionel on the ground and the white wolf standing over him. He very clearly says, "Joseph - no, don't!" and Lionel turns his head. Lionel never gives this piece of evidence to the police apparently, because we see Joseph later on, free as a bird. From Clark's comment wouldn't Lionel think Joseph was present, possibly siccing an attack wolf on him?

How come Clark wasn't concerned at all with the cave painting saying that someone like a brother to him will turn and become his enemy? Even if he didn't think of Lex, he could've thought of Pete. He was too wrapped up with Kyla being his soulmate to even think about the other painting!!

Whitney has been in the Marine Corps for six months or so. Already he is MIA. Although it's a bit tight, they could have shipped him off in a minimum of four months - the rushed training might be why he's MIA.

Kyla says she "didn't want to hurt the foreman and (Clark's) mom," but Kyla in wolf form mauls the foreman pretty badly ("teeth marks in the foreman's bone," according to the report Chloe mentions later). Does Kyla not think entirely rationally when she's in wolf form?

When he's first in the cave with Lex, Clark says the Indians drew the picture a hundred years ago. So...they were conceivably drawn by Joseph's father? They don't seem that legendary and mysterious somehow...

Lionel specifically commends Lex on the employee buyout Lex engineered for the fertilizer plant. Again, that was late last season - in "Tempest". Why is Lionel mentioning it now, and why only the buyout? (again, this episode may have been filmed earlier in the season)

On the WB repeat airing of this episode on 3/25/03, the network ran an exclusive extended X-Men 2 promo. The ad featured Iceman/Bobby Drake heavily - he's played by Shawn Ashmore, who appeared in the Smallville episode "Leech."

More Smallville/Roswell simularities: Roswell also had an episode in which the "hero" encountered a Native American who revealed cave drawings to him, drawings that could reveal the truth about his past.

"Miller's Bend": Possible in-joke reference to Frank Miller, famed comic book artist who did "The Dark Knight" and "The Dark Knight Returns" for DC Comics and features an older, darker version of Superman.

ALLUSIONS (1)

TitleIn Navajo legend, skinwalkers are witches who wear the skins of animals and can magically take on their forms. They have often been equated with werewolves, although this is an oversimplification.

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